The Eternal Daughter (2022)
Julie, an artist and photographer, takes her mother to a luxurious country hotel for her birthday, but is unsettled by strange noises and half-seen figures. The hotel was once her mother’s family home, and the visit unearths unexpected memories.
Tilda Swinton plays both Julie and her mother, Rosalind, which took a while to get used to. I kept looking to see where the cutaway or stand-in was. Julie spends the whole film trying to make her mother happy, and her mother both appreciates the attention and is frustrated at her daughter being ‘a fusspot’. Julie is sacrificing other areas of her life to please her mother, but can’t ever get the resolution or reaction she needs to be able to relax. Her mother remains distant and elusive.
The setting is wonderful, and the supporting cast adds to the fun, especially the increasingly rude receptionist. It looked like director Joanna Hogg wanted bits to feel like a ghost story, but the potentially spooky scenes didn’t feel spooky at all. Hogg can’t help but make things about making things. As a drama and character study, it’s a moving piece of work, and the ending got me.